A main pole layer having at least a leading taper and trimmed pole tip portion is described. The leading taper increases head field up to ≧15000 Oe even for narrow track widths approaching 50 nm. For MAMR applications, a STO and trailing shield are sequentially formed on a trailing pole tip side. Furthermore, full side shields may be added to reduce fringing field. A preferred embodiment includes both of a leading taper and trailing taper at the pole tip where leading taper angle is between 20° and 60° and trailing taper angle is from 10° to 45°. A method is provided for forming various embodiments of the present invention. A key feature is that milling depth at an effective neck height distance is greater than or equal to the pole tip thickness. A self aligned STO may be formed by the same ion milling step that defines track width.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A PMR write head with a main pole layer having a planar top surface that is connected to an air bearing surface (ABS) by a tapered trailing side, and a planar bottom surface that is formed parallel to said planar top surface and connected to the ABS by a tapered leading side, said main pole layer comprises: (a) a pole tip portion, comprising: (1) a pole tip formed along the ABS and having a leading edge where the tapered leading side terminates, and a trailing edge at the ABS where the tapered trailing side terminates, said trailing edge is located a pole tip thickness from the leading edge and has a track width in a cross-track direction; (2) a top surface that is part of the tapered trailing side and extends from said trailing edge to a first plane that is parallel to the ABS and is formed a neck height distance from the ABS; (3) two sides that are separated by a track width distance along the pole tip top surface, and connect the top surface to a pole tip bottom surface; and (4) the pole tip bottom surface that is part of the tapered leading side and having a first section formed along the tapered leading side between the ABS and a main pole surface that is aligned parallel to said planar top surface and has a front edge formed a first distance from the ABS, and a second section that is coplanar with said main pole surface and extends from the tapered leading side to said first plane; (b) the main pole surface adjoining the second section of the bottom surface on each side of the pole tip portion wherein the front edge extends a second distance from a side of the pole tip portion in a cross-track direction to a long side that extends from the front edge in a direction perpendicular to the ABS to a second plane formed on an opposite side of the first plane with respect to the ABS, said second plane is parallel to the first plane; and (c) a side of the main pole layer formed between the main pole surface and said top surface, and between the first plane and the second plane.
2. The PMR write head of claim 1 further comprised of a spin torque oscillator (STO) that adjoins the top surface of the pole tip portion, and a trailing shield formed on a side of the STO opposite the top surface of the pole tip portion.
3. The PMR write head of claim 2 further comprised of a side shield structure connected to said trailing shield and formed adjacent to each side of the pole tip portion.
4. The PMR write head of claim 1 wherein the tapered leading side has a taper angle between about 20 degrees and 60 degrees with respect to the ABS.
5. The PMR write head of claim 1 wherein the tapered trailing side has a taper angle between about 10 degrees and 45 degrees with respect to the ABS.
6. The PMR write head of claim 1 wherein a distance between the tapered trailing side and the tapered leading side along the first plane is greater than or equal to the pole tip thickness.
7. The PMR write head of claim 1 wherein the neck height distance is between about 40 and 100 nm, and the pole tip thickness is from about 40 to 100 nm.
8. The PMR write head of claim 1 wherein a distance between the first plane and second plane along a direction that is perpendicular to the ABS is from about 0 to 70 nm.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
June 27, 2013
January 7, 2014
Browse 5M+ US patents with plain-English claim translations and AI-generated analysis.